Your organization’s revenue operations (RevOps) can make or break your ability to reach revenue goals. These processes create alignment between your sales, marketing and customer success teams, shattering departmental silos for more reliable revenue-building and business growth. Without this alignment, teams often fail to cooperate —instead working toward independent goals with little visibility into other departments’ efforts or data.
But should you handle RevOps internally or entrust it to outside experts? The answer depends on several factors.To help you decide, let’s explore the benefits and challenges of in-house vs. outsourced RevOps and what you can do to succeed —no matter which path you choose.
An Overview of In-House RevOps Solutions
Before deciding whether to build expertise internally or seek out a service provider, you need to know what a high-functioning RevOps team looks like.
Generally, an in-house RevOps team brings together employees with expertise in sales, marketing and customer service, and the systems and processes required to drive success in each department. Their primary goal is to optimize processes across all three business functions by creating and executing cross-functional strategies.
Typical RevOps Team Roles
While internal RevOps team hierarchies and job titles vary depending on business size and growth stage, teams often include:
- A RevOps leader (such as a VP of revenue operations or chief revenue officer) is ultimately responsible for ensuring revenue-generating teams’ efforts align with company goals.
- Platform managers oversee the RevOps tech stack, which usually includes the company CRM and marketing automation platform, as well as any other tools your business might integrate to support and automate revenue-generating activities.
- Analytics experts handle day-to-day data analysis and reporting, like monitoring performance metrics, aggregating data across multiple systems and communicating insights to senior decision-makers.
- Project managers field requests from marketing, sales and customer service teams and empower them to carry out processes the RevOps team develops.
In some businesses, employees may straddle multiple roles. For example, platform managers may also handle data analysis and reporting, or the head of RevOps may also handle project management duties. However, as your business grows, asking employees to wear multiple RevOps hats can limit the teams’ potential.
Benefits of In-House RevOps Teams
Building an internal RevOps team creates plenty of advantages for your business. For example:
- You’ll have more control and ownershipWhen you build your own team, your business will have more control over processes and strategies — because you’ll be developing and executing them. You can optimize as the business evolves and decide where and how you want the RevOps team to spend its time and energy. Also, while hiring professionals and crafting processes from scratch is an investment, you can retain that institutional knowledge (which isn’t always possible when outsourcing).
- You can align efforts to your culture and long-term vision
Building an internal RevOps engine allows you to create something that supports the trajectory of your business and your organization’s values and beliefs. For example, if transparency and communication are foundational to your business culture, you can ensure your RevOps team makes performance data easily accessible and welcomes ideas and recommendations from all employees. - You have more flexibility in customizing RevOps solutions
If the people carrying out RevOps efforts are internal team members with an intimate understanding of your buyers, they can tailor your RevOps strategies (and the tech solutions enabling them) to support every unique step along their journey.
Challenges for In-House RevOps Teams
While creating your own RevOps dream team can sound appealing, it’s not the best choice for every business. Here are a few drawbacks that can make this path less enticing:
- Staffing and tech can be cost-prohibitive
RevOps professionals have specialized skill sets, making recruiting and onboarding expensive (not to mention the competitive salaries you’ll need to offer to retain these pros). Plus, you’ll need to invest in tech infrastructure to support an in-house team. - It can take time to see ROI
Even if you hire the best RevOps team in the field, you can expect a ramp-up period while the team sets up systems and rolls out new processes. It can take several months to see a return on the hefty budget you’ll need to allocate to build your team. - Your capacity is limited
Even with industry-leading operations software available to ease some of the burdens, a RevOps team can only accomplish so much. Scaling can take time and is especially difficult if you don’t have the budget to continuously add to your team’s headcount. Plus, there’s always a risk of losing a key team member (and their essential knowledge) to turnover.
Exploring Outsourced RevOps Solutions
As you can see, deciding between in-house vs. outsourced RevOps isn’t a simple decision. But, to make sure you feel fully prepared to choose, let’s delve into what hiring an outside service provider can look like.
Core Functions of RevOps Service Providers
In many cases, RevOps service providers’ teams include the same roles outlined above —professionals who manage platforms, data analysis and reporting experts, and project managers. You may also have an assigned account rep who will act as your primary point of contact, and access to tech support reps who can assist with tasks like software integrations, dashboard setups and customization requests.RevOps service providers vary in expertise but usually offer support with the following:
- Sales, marketing and service alignment
- RevOps system and process auditing
- Marketing and sales automation strategy
- System architecture and database administration
- Customer lifecycle modeling
- Data analysis and visualization
- Lead scoring and management
- Software integrations
Benefits of Outsourcing RevOps
Hiring a RevOps services provider offers plenty of advantages for growing businesses. For example:
- You’ll have immediate access to a wide range of specialized expertise
Instead of spending months recruiting, hiring and training RevOps professionals, you can immediately begin working with experienced specialists accustomed to working with organizations with needs like yours. This allows you to hit the ground running with new strategies much faster.
- You can save money
While outsourcing RevOps to a service provider is an investment, you can avoid the additional overhead of RevOps employee salaries and benefits, and the operational expenses associated with in-house teams. For businesses focused on revenue growth, these savings can have a significant impact.
- You can quickly scale based on business needs and market changes
As your business grows and your needs evolve, you can easily scale your RevOps support —no additional headcount required. That flexibility comes in handy when you only need additional resources temporarily, such as when integrating new tech or rolling out new processes, and can’t justify another full-time hire.
Challenges of Outsourcing RevOps
Just as with creating an in-house RevOps team, partnering with a service provider also has a few drawbacks:
- You may have less control over day-to-day operations and strategy
The amount of insight you’ll have into daily efforts depends entirely on how well the service provider communicates. But even if they’re highly responsive to your questions and requests, you’ll never have total control over processes and strategies.
- Potential for conflicting company culture and vision
RevOps service providers have their own philosophies, best practices and internal culture, which could clash with your organization’s way of doing things. While thoroughly vetting potential partners can help you find a provider that shares your organizational values, there’s no guarantee you won’t butt heads at some point.
- It can be risky to depend on an external provider for essential business functions
There are always risks when outsourcing any aspect of your business. There’s always a chance a provider could deliver a lower-quality service than you expect, end your contract or shut their doors. This can be especially concerning if you’ve entrusted a partner with the success of your sales, marketing and customer service.
Kuno Creative Can Help You With Your RevOps
Weighing whether to invest in in-house vs. outsourced RevOps takes careful consideration. Fortunately, no matter which option you choose, Kuno Creative is available to help ensure your RevOps efforts succeed. We have expertise in streamlining tech stacks (including HubSpot onboarding and platform integrations), aligning processes across teams and delivering end-to-end customer insights for a holistic view of all revenue-generating activities.Whether you want to dial up the power of your internal RevOps efforts or contract out your RevOps efforts while you focus on your core business functions, we have the skills and experience to help you achieve your goals. Schedule a call with us today to learn more.
